Aliphatic primary amines are important compounds in domestic and industrial application fields and have been used as raw materials for production of surfactants, fiber-treating agents, etc.
The aliphatic primary amines have been produced by various processes. As one of the production processes, there is known the method of contacting an aliphatic primary alcohol with ammonia and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. In the catalytic reaction, there has been used a nickel/copper-based catalyst or a noble metal-based catalyst.
As the methods using the noble metal-based catalyst, in particular, a ruthenium-based catalyst, there is disclosed, for example, the process for producing an amine from an alcohol, etc., in the presence of a catalyst formed by supporting about 0.001 to 25% by weight of ruthenium together with about 0 to 5% by weight of a co-catalyst such as rhodium, palladium, platinum, copper, silver and a mixture thereof, on a porous oxide such as alumina, silica and an aluminosilicate (e.g., refer to JP 8-243392A). Also, there are disclosed the process using a catalyst formed by supporting about 0.001 to 25% by weight of ruthenium and about 0.1 to 6% by weight of cobalt and/or nickel together with about 0 to 10% by weight of copper and about 0 to 5% by weight of an accelerator composed of various metals on a porous oxide such as alumina, silica and an aluminosilicate (e.g., refer to JP 10-174874A), and the process using a catalyst formed by supporting about 0.001 to 25% by weight of ruthenium and about 6 to 50% by weight of cobalt and/or nickel together with about 0 to 10% by weight of copper and about 0 to 5% by weight of an accelerator composed of various metals on a porous oxide such as alumina, silica and an aluminosilicate (e.g., refer to JP 10-174875A).
In these techniques, the catalysts are produced by an impregnating method, and the catalyst produced is dried, baked at 400° C. for 4 h, and then subjected to hydrogen reducing treatment at 300° C. for 20 h. Further, the catalysts fail to exhibit sufficient reactivity and selectivity.